Self-Esteem And Emotional Intelligence Among Students In A ...

Self-Esteem And Emotional Intelligence Among

Students In A Public Higher Learning Institution In Malaysia

Farhana Nabila Fakaruddin1, Ida Hartina Ahmed Tharbe

2

1,2 Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Malaysia.

*E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the relationship between self-esteem and emotional

intelligence among students in a public higher learning institution in Kuala Lumpur. The

respondents were 100 college students randomly selected from six faculties in the university.

The instruments used for the study were Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Self Rated

Malaysian Emotional Intelligence Scale (SRMEIS). The findings show that there were

significant relationship between self-esteem and emotional intelligence among university

students. Additionally, the data showed that self-esteem among university students in this study

was at medium level while the level of emotional intelligence was high. The results can be used

as reference by students, counselors, lecturers, university management, and for further research

purpose.

Keywords: self-esteem; emotional intelligence; public higher learning institution

1. Introduction

In the effort to build a prosperous nation, the

development of human capital and quality human resources cannot be overlooked and are closely

intertwined. University graduates are among those

who play the key role in leading the nation's

leadership in the future. In fact, the credibility of university graduates depends on the extent of their

positive self-development and mastery of soft skills

in dealing with future challenges and problems.

During their college life, positive self-esteem and

good emotional intelligence will help university

students in their adaptation. In long run, they will also assist college students in coping with

challenges in the real world. The Malaysia Youth

Index (2015) indicates that self-esteem and emotional intelligence are among the important

domains and indicators of significant self-

development to produce a generation of eminent personalities. These two aspects also help the nation

to produce mentally, physically and emotionally

healthy youths who are capable of facing future

challenges.

According to Sulaiman (2013), in this 21st century,

there has been a social change, in which total

success is not only measured through intellectual

intelligence but also involves aspects of emotional intelligence. Students are often faced with various

challenges, either academically or individually, that

require self-esteem to deal with the problems that occur. Recent studies have also shown that positive

self-esteem and good emotional intelligence among

students have positive impact on the life of

individuals. Rosenberg (in Yahaya & Ahmad, 2006) stated that individuals with high self-esteem would

respect and consider themselves as useful

individuals. On the other hand, individuals with low self-esteem would not accept themselves well

as they consider themselves to be useless and

inadequate. According to McLeod (2008), based on Erik Erikson's approach, individual appreciation and

uniqueness is an identity-building process. In

addition, perfect personality development depends

on the individual's freedom of choice. Regarding

Universitas Indonesia International Psychology Symposium for Undergraduate Research (UIPSUR 2017)

Copyright © 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 139

243

that, self-esteem also means self-assessment,

consciousness, what the individual decides about self and how a person takes into account the

decisions of others about himself (Muntoyo, 2007).

In terms of emotional intelligence, Mayer, Caruso and Salovey (1999) refer emotional intelligence to

„the ability to recognize the meanings of emotions

and their relationships, and to reason and solve on the basis of them. Emotional intelligence is involved

in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate

emotion-related feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage them'

(pp. 267). The abilities of emotional intelligence are

essential for the development of positive personality

and well-being of individuals. Mayer and Salovey (1997) explain that emotional intelligence is divided

into four main processes. The four key processes in

the model of emotional intelligence are identifying emotions, using emotions to facilitate the process of

thinking, understanding emotions, and managing

emotions. According to Buckley and Saarni (in

Ciarrochi, Forgas & Mayer, 2006), a person with developed emotional intelligence would be able to

mobilize resources to learn new information,

acquire new insights and develop his or her talents to full potentials.

Despite the findings on the importance of self-esteem and emotional intelligence, there is still a

lack of studies about self-esteem and emotional

intelligence among university students in Malaysia.

In fact, many studies have been conducted only to examine the relationship between self-esteem and

academic excellence. Some studies on emotional

intelligence in Malaysia were - conducted among workers. Therefore, -this study aims to investigate

the relationship between self-esteem and emotional

intelligence among college students in Malaysia. In addition, this study would also examine the levels of

self-esteem and emotional intelligence in Malaysian

college students and the comparison of self-esteem

and emotional intelligence based on gender.

2. Literature Review

Many researches has been conducted worldwide to

assess the relevance of self-esteem and emotional intelligence towards the development of individuals.

However, different results had been found. Kong,

Zhao, and You (2012) studied on the role of self-esteem and social support for emotional intelligence

and satisfaction of life among university students in

China. The results showed self-esteem and social

support mediated emotional intelligence and life

satisfaction among students. They also found that

male students tend to get higher life satisfaction than female students if they have high social

support. Overall, their findings prove that self-

esteem and emotional intelligence interrelates and

contributes to student's satisfaction of life. Bibi and Saqlain (2016) study focused on emotional

intelligence and self-esteem among university

students in Pakistan. The result showed that there was a significant relationship between self-esteem

and emotional intelligence. Their finding also

showed that the level of emotional intelligence among female students was higher than male

students.

On the other hand, study by Rahimi (2016) on the relationship among emotional intelligence, self-

esteem, gender, and academic success in Iranian

students had shown different result. Their study verified that there was no significant relationship

between academic achievement with self-esteem

and emotional intelligence among university

students. Nevertheless, the level of self-esteem of female students was found to be higher than male

students. In the discussion of this study, researcher

also point out that psychological factors such as emotional intelligence and self-esteem cannot be a

determining factor in solving the impact on

academic achievement of students.

Focus on the effect of self-esteem, a study

conducted by Samin (2016) tried to assess the

relationship between self-esteem and depression among Bandar Penawar Community College

students. Their study results supported that there

was a significant negative relationship between self-esteem and depression among college students.

Hence, this study proves that the high degree of

self-esteem can help students achieve higher academic excellence. This study also proved that

high level of self-esteem reduces the level of stress

that may lead to depression among students.

Cazan and Nastasa (2015) conducted a study on

emotional intelligence. They tried to verify whether

emotional intelligence was associated with good adaptation and academic achievement among

students. The results showed that there was a

significant correlation between emotional

intelligence with better adaptability and academic achievement in university. The findings also

showed that the lack of satisfaction in the university

led to an increase in the drop-out rate of students. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that high


244

emotional intelligence can help college students in

their adjustment in university.

3. Methods

Sample. This study involved students in a public

university in Kuala Lumpur who are randomly selected from six faculties. Total of 100 students

participated in the study, consisting of 52 female

and 48 males.

Research Design. Quantitative survey method was used to gather the data needed for this study. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of t-test and correlation were conducted in particular to answer the research question, using SPSS Version 23.

Based on those backgrounds, this study was guided

by the research question, “Is there a significant

relationship between self-esteem and EI in the undergraduates of a public university?”. To provide

a more comprehensive understanding of the study

variables, this research also intended to answer these questions:

a) What is the level of self-esteem of undergraduate

students in a public university?

b) What is the level of EI among undergraduates of a public university?

c) Is there a significant difference in the level of

self-esteem between the male and female undergraduates of a public university?

Instrument and Measurement. Two instruments

were used for the purpose of this study. Self-esteem

was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem

Scale (RSES) by Morris Rosenberg (1965) which was previously translated into Malay language by

Asmin (2010). This scale was proven to have good

internal consistency (α = 0.80). The RSES contains 10 items with 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 =

strongly agree to 4=strongly disagree for the

positive items and vice versa for the negative items. Among the items, there are seven positive items and

three negative items. The scores are interpreted as

high (scores between 25 to 30), medium (scores

between 15-25) and low (scores below 15).

Emotional intelligence was measured using the Self

Rated Malaysian Emotional Intelligence scale/ SRMEIS (Ida & Ng, 2017). The 39-items inventory

measures the four domains of emotional intelligence

based on Mayer and Salovey‟s (1997) emotional

intelligence framework. The four domains are

Emotional Perception and Expression (EPE),

Emotional Facilitation of Thinking (EFT), Emotional Understanding (EU) and Emotional

Management (EM). For the purpose of this study,

only the overall scores are taken into consideration

on the basis of interpretation regardless of the scores of the four domains. The Cronbach‟s alpha for

SRMEIS extracted during the pilot study of this

research indicated a high internal consistency (α = 0.92). In this scale, participants are required to

choose a response according to the 5-point Likert

scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The overall scores below 65 points indicate low EI,

between 65-130 points indicate medium EI, while

scores above 130 indicate high EI.

Procedure. Both measurement scales were

compiled as a questionnaire. The questionnaires

were manually distributed and collected from participants at their respective faculties.

4. Results

Based on the descriptive data, the majority of

participants (60.0%) aged from 19 to 21 years old.

The respondents consisted of 60% (N=60) Malay students, 6 (6%) Chinese students and 7 (7%)

students from other ethnics backgrounds. By the

faculty, participants of this study came from six different faculties, namely Faculty of Education

(35%), Engineering (20%), Economics (12%),

Medicine and Science (13%) and Law (7%).

Participants’ Level of Self-Esteem and

Emotional Intelligence

Table 1 shows the level of self-esteem and

emotional intelligence of participants in this study.

As can be seen, this study found that students have medium level of self-esteem (M = 18.3). Along with

that, their level of emotional intelligence (EI) can be

categorized as high (M = 143.81). With reference to

the four domains of EI, participants of this study also showed a high level of emotional perception

and expression (M = 40.82), emotional facilitation

of thinking (M = 51.75), and emotional management respectively (M = 39.96). Meanwhile,

their level of emotional understanding was in

medium level (M = 11.28) These scores show that

the students have high ability to perceive and express emotion accurately, use emotions to

facilitate thought and manage their emotions.

However, they have averaged in terms of the ability to understand emotions.


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Table 1

Level of self-esteem and emotional intelligence

Domains Mean Level

Self Esteem

18.3 Medium

Overall EI 143.81 High

EPE 40.82 High

EFT 51.75 High

EU - 11.28 Medium

EM 39.96 High Note: EPE = Emotional Perception and Expression; EFT = Emotional Facilitation of Thinking; EU = Emotional Understanding; EM = Emotional Management

Correlation between Self-Esteem and Emotional

Intelligence

Based on the result of Pearson Correlation Analysis

between self-esteem and emotional intelligence, there was a significant positive relationship between

self-esteem and emotional intelligence among

university students (r = 0.522 ; p < .05).

Comparison of Self-Esteem and Emotional

Intelligence between Gender

Table 1.2 illustrates the results of independent

sample t-test analysis to compare the level of self-

esteem and emotional intelligence between male and female students. It reveals significant difference

(t (100) = 2.67, p < .05) between the self-esteem

score of male students (M =17.31, SD = 3.78) and

female students (M =19.21, SD =3.33), with female students having higher level of self-esteem. These

results also show significant difference (t (100) =

2.38, p < .05) on the overall EI scores between male (M= 140.32, SD 12.63) and female (M = 147.03, SD

= 15.41) students. This finding indicates that female

students have higher emotional intelligence.

Table 1.2

t-test Results of Self-esteem and Emotional Intelligence

based on Gender Variable Self-Esteem EI

Male M 17.31 140.31 SD 3.78 12.63 Female M 19.21 147.03

SD 3.33 15.41 t 2.67 2.376 p 0.009* 0.019*

*p<.05

5. Discussion & Conclusion

This study has verified the hypothesis about the relationship between self-esteem and emotional

intelligence (EI). This result is consistent with the

finding of Schutte et al (2002), which found that

higher emotional intelligence enables individuals to

maintain higher level of self-esteem, thus having better perception of self-worth or value. Salovey et

al (2002) found that mood clarity and mood repair

are positively correlated with self-esteem. Therefore

the understanding of the relationship between self-esteem and emotional intelligence is very important

in the effort to assist university students in coping

with challenges of university life and beyond. The significant relationship found between self-esteem

and emotional intelligence among students provides

a useful basis for further research and interventions. Counselors may provide training as interventions to

improve self-esteem to enhance EI or vice versa in

line with this objective. Further research are also

recommended to determine the direction of the relationship whether self-esteem influence

emotional intelligence or the other way round.

Previous studies have found inconsistency in their

finding of self-esteem level among university

students. However, this study‟s findings show that

the level of self-esteem among Malaysian university students is at a medium level. This result supports

the finding of Othman (2006) which found that the

level of self-esteem among university students was at moderate level. This study also revealed

consistent result with the study of Kosnin et al.

(2003) that also reported that the level of self-esteem of university students was at moderate level.

Self-esteem among students depends on how they

judge themselves in various aspects of life. Level of

self-esteem can be influenced by their ability to cope and adapt to challenges in university life.

Problem they face in adapting to the university

environment and lifestyle will indirectly affect the level of their self-confidence and self-esteem

(Kosnin 2013). It could explain why the self-esteem

level of students in this study was medium instead of high.

Overall, the students in this study have high level of

emotional intelligence (EI). This finding is similar to the findings by Che Ani (2013) and Cazan and

Nastasa (2015). This implies that they are good at

perceiving and expressing their emotion, know how to use their emotions in making rational decisions

and have the ability to manage their emotions well.

Although they score moderately in terms of

emotional understanding, all the domains of EI can be enhanced and further developed through proper

training. Chan (2005) believes that individuals

might benefit from special guidance and counseling services, training and support to enhance their EI.


246

Being emotionally intelligence can be a great

advantage to these students in their future development, personally and professionally.

Personally, individuals with high EI have been said

to be able to intuitively understand what others

need, aware of their own strength and weaknesses, able to remain „unruffled' by stress and tend to

connect better with other individuals (Stein & Book,

2000). Professionally, many researchers argued that there is a direct link between EI and job

performance (Kluemper, DeGroot and Choi; 2013)

and plays an important role in leadership behaviors (Boyatzis, Good & Massa; 2012).

The findings show that the level of self-esteem

among male students is lower than female students. This finding is consistent with the study conducted

by Rahimi (2016), who found that the level of self-

esteem among female students was higher than male students. This is probably because men are a

minority group in the university setting, compared

to women. Thus, this situation could impose a sense

of challenge to them. Therefore, male students may need to be more acquainted with the situation in

order to be more proactive and improve their

competitiveness. Kong et al. (2012) suggested that the level of self-esteem among male students can be

enhanced through positive social support from

others. Similar condition found for emotional intelligence.

Female students were measured to have higher level

of emotional intelligence compare to their male

counterparts. This finding supported the earlier studies by Bibi, Saqlain & Musawwar (2016) and

Walsh and Joyce (2011). Several studies argued that

women tend to be more emotionally intelligent because they received education biased towards

emotions while men are taught to minimize certain

emotions related to sadness, guilt, vulnerability and fear (Brody & Hall, 1999; Sánchez, Fernández-

Berrocal, Montañés, & Latorre, 2008). Studies also

conclude that women have a greater emotional

knowledge and tend to they express their emotions more fluently and more frequently and can easily

adapt themselves socially compared to men. (Brody

& Hall, 2000; Ciarrochi, Hynes, & Crittenden, 2005; Hall & Mast, 2008) Acceptance and social

support received by female students at the

university also affects the high level of emotional

intelligence.

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